Pest control tips and tricks

We all, at some point, had the experience of dealing with pests. But do we know how to efficiently solve our pest problems?

Here are some useful tips about how you can deal with unwanted pests.

The key to having the best result is to be able to identify your problem because pest control has to be done specifically.

- for example, when dealing with ants, you can use a mix of borax and sugar. Mix 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of borax and put it in a jar; after you make holes in the lid of the jar and sprinkle the content outside, all around the foundation of the house and indoors, all around the baseboards. The effect will be that the ants will be attracted to sugar and killed by the borax;

- if it’s cockroaches, you have to use borax in every cabinet in the kitchen and bathroom, but mind the places where kids or pets could reach;

- if you have a flea problem, the first thing you need to do is to vacuum very thoroughly all the carpets and throw the vacuum bag right away before using any flea powder;

- another pest that could cause damage is carpenter ants; if that is the case, you should know that they are attracted by the damp wood, and so you have to check the pipes, roofs and other water infiltrations; carpenter ants can be exterminated using a mix of boric acid (2/3) and sugar (1/3),put in bottle caps in the areas where you spot them; they will carry the mixture in their nest killing every ant there

- the centipedes' presence could indicate the presence of other insects as well as they prey on bugs; for centipedes you can try using sticky traps if they are small, or even insecticides in the form o a barrier around your house;

- termites could be another problem; you can distinguish termite infestation by looking at the holes they make, because termites only eat the soft parts of the wood, leaving the rings in the wood intact; termites could be dealt with in two ways – a natural one or a chemical one.

Dealing with termites naturally means you either use nematodes – worms that attack termite larvae, killing them in that stage; if you chose to do this ,you have to bear in mind that nematodes are affected by UV light and you have to place them in the garden before or after sunlight; other natural ways are using a wet cardboard box as they are drawn to cellulose as well; the cardboard must be wet to highlight the smell; when they are trapped inside the box they can be burnt or exposed to sunlight to die; if the termites presence is located in old furniture pieces, you could try taking them out and leaving them outside in the sun;

Others ways to deal with them is with boric acid sprayed over a piece of wood and placing them in the infested areas; the boric acid shuts down their nervous system and dehydrates them .

The chemical solution used to kill termites is arsenic dust, a very effective way to destroy all the members of a colony; the termites interact and so it will take only a few members to carry the powder into the colony and destroy it; also if the termites feed on the victims they will die as well; this method is highly efficient but it should be done by authorized pest control employees

Other types of pests that could make problems are rodents and racoons. If such,for rodents you can try using mouse traps with raw bacon or peanut butter as bait, minding that you anchor the bait firmly on the trigger

If a raccoon ‘’sets camp’’ in your chimney or attic, you could try using chemical solutions such as oil of mustard as the smell will repel them, or if you spot their holes ,you could try covering their entrance so that they cannot return

Whatever the case, you should know that the best way to deal with this kind of problems it to prevent it. There are many ways to prevent pest infestation, such as storing food properly and leaving none out, fixing plumbing problems your house may have, avoiding to stack up unnecessary items such as cardboards, old magazines or newspapers, covering any small places that they could use to enter your home or even checking the content of the boxes or other things you carry inside the house.